Calabasas Park

Complaints by Calabasas homeowners about poor county maintenance of their parks, hillsides and greenbelts infuriated Supervisor Ed Edelman on Thursday, causing him to question whether the county parks department can handle the job. However, Rodney E. Cooper, director of Los Angeles County's Department of Parks and Recreation, said the problem lies in the community's expectations that far exceed its landscape budget.

I'm so very tired of Roger Kahn and the other Brooklynites who can't give up the ghost and continue to demonize Walter O'Malley for the move west. It has been shown conclusively that not only did O'Malley want to build a stadium with his own money in Brooklyn, but Robert Moses had no interest in anything other than his usual desire to build highways and public works projects that clashed with O'Malley's proposal. Ebbets Field's utopian image has grown the further away we get from 1957.

On a shadeless Calabasas street snaking between ridgelines above the San Fernando Valley, Michael Fichera clutched a handful of freshly plucked greenery, the dirt still clinging to the roots, and demanded to know: What was it--exactly? Was it, as Fichera insisted, an unwanted weed growing wild among a developer's landscaping, choking out all desirable plants? Or was it, as Curt Robertson suggested, ground cover, no matter how ugly, planted intentionally by the developer?

Re "FBI Agents Complained of Prisoner Abuse, Records Say," Dec. 21: For God's sake, won't someone (the president, perhaps?) stand up and say, "Stop torturing and abusing detainees. Stop now. This will not be tolerated. We are Americans and Americans do not behave this way." Instead, we have a memo from our soon-to-be attorney general that tortures the English language as well, attempting to justify our savagery. Someday soon, we will look back and wonder what happened to our country.

Calabasas residents were promised Thursday night that a landowner will allow 2,000 homes on the west side of the community to join a proposed City of Calabasas. James Harter, a development manager for the Baldwin Co., said his firm will provide a 200-foot-wide strip to link homes on the east side of Calabasas with those on the west side two miles away. Harter's company is seeking to withdraw 1,300 acres of undeveloped ranch land between the two areas from proposed city boundaries.

A construction plan that would give the exclusive Calabasas Park community its first "back door" has passed its first test with Los Angeles County officials. A county planning department hearing officer has authorized the removal of 10 oak trees in the path of a proposed mile-long roadway between Parkway Calabasas and Mulholland Highway.

Hours after being denied cityhood until at least 1988, Calabasas homeowners moved quickly Wednesday night to assert private control over a $150-million high-rise project proposed for the entrance to their neighborhood. Residents of the wealthy Calabasas Park area said they have hired their own traffic expert to analyze plans for the proposed hotel and office complex that would spring up in front of their homes.

The residents of Calabasas Park have their silver Mercedes Benzes and black BMWs, their own lake, country club and tennis club. With an average household income of $69,000 a year, the residential enclave is touted as one of the most prestigious communities in the San Fernando Valley. But for years there was only the most basic TV service in Calabasas Park. Homeowners could afford to buy VCRs and big-screen televisions. Yet cries of "I want my MTV!" fell on deaf ears.

A $150-million office and hotel proposal supported by one group of Calabasas Park residents but opposed by another was approved Wednesday by a similarly divided Los Angeles County Planning Commission. Planners voted 3 to 2 to let the Ahmanson Commercial Development Corp. construct a 12-building complex on 67 acres at the southeast corner of Calabasas Road and Parkway Calabasas.

I believe President Clinton should quickly and publicly take Fidel Castro up on his invitation to visit Cuba (Jan. 18). The Cuban leader challenged our president to argue the case for democracy and free enterprise to the Cuban people. Castro would look terribly foolish if he backed down on his offer, and if President Clinton did go to Cuba, the sky would be the limit, given his persuasive powers! If Nixon could go to China, Clinton can be the leader to bring the voice of democracy to Cuba.

Alexander Mosich Miller careens around the playground at A.E. Wright Middle School in Calabasas, skateboarding off stairs, riding rails and grinding metal against asphalt. The wide-open pavement, staircases and ramps are perfect for the 13-year-old boy's high-flying antics. He hustles to get in a few stunts before a maintenance worker chases him off the school grounds.

Re "Bill to Erase Robbins' Name OKd," Aug. 8, Assemblyman Lou Papan (D-Millbrae) should get with the times. Revisionist historians went out with the old Soviet Union. It's true that former state Sen. Alan Robbins "did the crime and served the time," but he also authored significant legislation that bears his name. Papan should drop his efforts to strip Robbins' name from those laws. Robbins is yesterday's news. Of concern today are the countless politicians (of both political parties)

"Plan for Skateboard Park Moves Ahead," Oct. 9. I just finished reading the article on the proposed Calabasas skateboard park in which skateboarders are characterized as "kids that enjoy risk" who would otherwise be "sitting in front of a TV eating Chee-tos" if it were not for skateboarding. I am fed up with image of skateboarding as a children's sport that is quickly forgotten about at the same time the kid gets his drivers license. I am a 26-year-old college graduate with a good job, a car and my own house.

I believe President Clinton should quickly and publicly take Fidel Castro up on his invitation to visit Cuba (Jan. 18). The Cuban leader challenged our president to argue the case for democracy and free enterprise to the Cuban people. Castro would look terribly foolish if he backed down on his offer, and if President Clinton did go to Cuba, the sky would be the limit, given his persuasive powers! If Nixon could go to China, Clinton can be the leader to bring the voice of democracy to Cuba.

The Calabasas Park Centre project is back, and despite years of negotiations among community members and developers, it's still the subject of debate. This time the community seems to support the project, but with two proposed designs the issue now is what it will look like: an old-fashioned town center or an upscale mall with a civic plaza.

After reading "Roots: 20 Years Later" (by Greg Braxton, Jan. 26), I am compelled to clarify my "quotes." For the record, neither do I believe nor intend to imply that all black sitcoms are negative and full of buffoonery. Uh, duh, I happen to co-star in a black sitcom. Fact is, all comedy is hard and most shows have paper-thin premises where character development is often pushed aside for cliches and sight gags. Take away the topic of sex and most white sitcoms would broadcast dead air. If the sitcom format is the major vehicle to explore the comic nuances and character of an entire people, then shouldn't those of us (black or white)

In an unusual twist to the slow-growth movement, Calabasas residents said yes Wednesday to construction of a $150-million hotel and office project next to their homes--but Los Angeles County officials said no. County planning commissioners said they won't approve the project until they are convinced that the Ahmanson Commercial Development Co. isn't trying to cram too much onto a 67-acre site next to exclusive Calabasas Park.

A proposed $150-million Calabasas hotel and office project--criticized as too big and too ugly--was ordered redesigned Wednesday by Los Angeles County planners. Planning commissioners said they want Ahmanson Commercial Development Co. to scale down the project planned for a 67-acre site next to exclusive Calabasas Park. The commissioners also want the developer to decrease the height of four 6-story buildings proposed.

A man was struck by lightning in an office parking lot during a storm on Thursday, leaving him in critical condition, officials said. Guy Arnone, 30, of Canyon Country, was walking near the building where he works for Funders Mortgage Corp. when the accident happened at about 4 p.m., according to witnesses.

Incorporated in 1991, Calabasas is a city with growing pains. Elected officials and residents often find themselves grappling with quality-of-life issues for the first time: how much development to allow, how to generate tax revenue and how to avoid becoming another San Fernando Valley. The city's name comes from the Spanish word for pumpkins or gourds, calabazas, according to some. Others contend it was taken from the name of a Chumash village.